I say it over and over and will never stop. It was the best birth I had. The one where we welcomed our second boy into the fold. I was told that morning after a 36 week amnio that due to IUGR, we would be induced that day. June 13th.
Having been down this nearly exact road with the Oldest, I knew the drill. And I hunkered down for what I anticipated would be a two and a half day laboring process.
But the Middlest, his birth was easy. I dilated at a normal pace with the help of cytotec and pitocin. I progressed from 0/0 to ten in a very natural manner. Because my body remembered it had been there before, I think.
And the pain was so manageable. I think I was dilated to 7 or 8 by the time I requested an epidural. And then, at 10 o clock ish at night, in a dim-lit room, with the starry night sky peering in through the windows of St Elizabeth’s hospital, with the song, “take my life and let it be” playing on the iPad, he arrived.
It. Was. Magic. I held him. He cried. And they kept letting me hold him. It was so different and so calm compared to the room after the Oldest arrived.
Jonah Brooks, he could have be Reid. As a girl, he could have been Elle, or Emery. But he was Jonah. 4 lb 11 oz of boy.
And now, today, he’s 5. Five seemed like such a milestone with the Oldest, but with Jonah, we’ve always expected him to act older than he is. Because he’s had to just keep up with the pack.
I love this kid. He’s turned another corner recently. He has about 80% less fits. He is starting to read on his own. His mind works in mysteriously crazy ways. He is inventive, innovative, creative. He goes 104 miles a minute and when he crashes, he falls apart. He says “rearrly” and “tast-is” and he has an adorable sing songy voice that I want to bottle forever. He LOVES music… Specifically, “can’t stop the feelin'” and “renegade”. His favorite movies are the Alvin and the Chipmunks movies. He likes playing Legos… But not sets as much as freestylin’. He’s actually starting to eat and like food… YAYAYAYYAYAYYAY! And he’s always wearing pajamas and some sort of costume that he’s put together. In fact, he requested that for his birthday, he get to dress up as a dinosaur all day.
He is my kisser, my hugger, my snuggler, my thank-youer. He is always the one in the middle. And I’ve been trying to be aware of that more and more. So he doesn’t get the shaft.
He got post-its, tape, toothpaste, and a toothbrush for his bday and he said, “now I have everything I want!”
He is sensitive. He pees all over the place. He rarely flushes the toilet. He is very very very easily distracted. He tears everything up. Everything.
He will not go to school in the fall. Instead, we’re opting for a year of speech-free all-day pre-k to make sure he’s good and ready in the fall of 2017.
This kid. We wouldn’t be the family we are without him, smack dab in the middle of our trio. I don’t know where life will take him but I can be assured of one thing… It will definitely be an adventure.
Happy 5th birthday, Jonah. We love you, you funny, giggly, beautiful boy!
